Starlight
by Marquesa de Santos
Summary: Belle and Rumpelstiltskin spend Christmas together. Written for the Rumbelle Secret Santa. My prompt was: unicorn, red ribbon, starlight, Christmas Eve, heart for ImpossibleWanderings on tumblr.


Starlight

* * *

She had shown up at his doorstep an hour early, wearing a navy blue coat and shivering. Before pressing the doorbell, she hesitated. Had it been wrong to reject Ruby's offer to spend Christmas at the bed and breakfast? She could still go tomorrow. It was only Christmas Eve, but… the truth was, she could hardly look at Ruby now without remembering the shackles. They called them handcuffs here, but she could see no difference. The purpose was the same. A chill travelled up her spine. No. She wanted to spend this day with Rumpelstiltskin. Her finger pressed against the button and she heard a chime. She liked that sound. It was so different from the sounds she heard from—her thoughts were interrupted when Rumpelstiltskin opened the door, grinning at her.

"Good evening, Rumpelstiltskin." He stepped aside to allow her entrance, kissing her forehead and making her heart burst. He was so gentle with her here. So gentle, it almost made her cry.

"Hello, Darling." She eased her coat off and he took it. Catching her hand, he urged her to twirl in her red dress. "You look lovely."

"Thank you." She cocked her head and raised her shoulder, smiling. His tenderness touched her heart. It was something that she didn't mind had changed from home. He was more somber, and while she missed his playfulness, this could be nice too.

"Wait, Rumpel?" She touched his arm.

"Yes, Belle?" A raised brow indicated worry. She wished he wouldn't worry.

"Aren't the trees supposed to be decorated?"

His demeanor relaxed. "I was hoping you would do me the honor of trimming the tree with me."

Oh! She clapped her hands, delighted. "I would love to!" Her voice was high with excitement as she grabbed his hand. "Thank you." She worried at the corner of her lip, caught of guard by his sudden intensity. He pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes closed.

"I love you," he murmured, rubbing his nose against hers. She could feel her heart speeding up and her face growing warm.

"I love you, too," she whispered back, bringing her palm to his weathered cheek and stroking it with her thumb. He leaned into the touch before kissing her cheek and linking his arm with hers.

"What would you like first, my dear? Decorating the tree, or a light dinner?"

"Oh, the tree!" She exclaimed, pressing her shoulder more firmly against his. "I want to decorate the tree!"

He smiled and pointed to cardboard boxes behind the tree. "First, we put up the lights." He informed her. She bent down to find the small fairy lights and retrieved the tangled bunch, presenting it to Rumpelstiltskin. They set about untangling the strings and once they were done, Rumpelstiltskin insisted on putting the lights on himself.

"There'll be plenty more for you to do, and there's a bit of a trick to this."

She crossed her arms.

"Is that so?"

His smile made her feel indulged and warm and happy. And when she leaned down to plug in the lights, she found the scene agreeable to her eyes.

"It looks like starlight," she breathed, leaning against him. She felt his lips on the top of her head and sighed. His arms could be such a refuge, sometimes.

"There's more to do, love." He pushed her towards the boxes, and she knelt, rummaging through the box. Each exclamation was met with the stirring of a chuckle.

"Help me!" She pouted, beckoning him to her, holding up a black unicorn ornament.

~o~

She lay on the couch, dipping the cracker into the melted Brie. She hadn't had this yet, and the simplicity had appealed to her. Neither was very hungry, and it didn't take long for the quiet contentment of having his hand caressing her arm to turn into arousal.

The man did things to her. Evil, wicked, wonderful things. His kisses were like drugs, his hands made expert from centuries of spinning gold from wool.

He had her dress whispering from her skin in a matter of moments. His lips skimmed, sucking and biting and hovering in turn. He made her name a blessing against her flesh, working down to her wet core.

Her fingers grasped at his hair as she pushed her head against arm of the couch. His gentleness and attention were overwhelming. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she wanted to thrash her legs from pleasure. Sounds were coming from her throat that she hadn't thought herself capable of making as he swirled his tongue against her pink lips. Heat rose to her face in both embarrassment and exertion, her breath coming rapidly as his hands tried to steady her hips.

When he took her clit into his mouth and suckled, she thought she would die of pleasure. It was too much; she was screaming, so close to the precipice of orgasm. The torture stopped when he changed his movements, giving her time to breathe as he laid his tongue flat against her and allowed it to dip inside. This too was beyond the scope of feeling, and as his fingers dug into her hips, she began to register only pleasure. She didn't notice when he moved his hand from her hip, the change only made it to her consciousness when two fingers curled inside of her and he was suckling her clit again and there was nothing but pure sensation as his fingers worked to milk every ounce of pleasure from her tightness.

She felt her body unclench from around his fingers and found strength to tug his hair a bit, motioning for him to bring his face closer. He looked like he'd won something, the imp. Belle gave a lazy smile and took his lips between hers, relishing in the taste of her orgasm and the smile on his face.

He divested himself of his pants and sheathed himself within her, moving to the rhythm of the Christmas music and spilling his seed within her. They lay against each other for some moments before she untied the red ribbon from her hair and wrapped it around his wrist.

Rumpelstiltskin pulled the throw from the other end of the couch over them, she noted, before drifting off to sleep. The last thing she remembered was his promise of gifts and his lips whispering secrets into her hair.


End file.
